late afternoon winges

[melsy]

My dd is heading for 18 weeks and has decided she doesnt like her late aftrenoon nap 5:00 for 40mins -1hr. I think as its dark she thinks its bed time and gets herself all upset and crys for ages. Her other 2 sleeps of the day she is fine , I can put her down awake with her music on and a teddy and she drifts of in a few minutes.

A friend came round today a suggested I leave the light on for this sleep , but so far she is still crying in that "get me OUT of here", way!. I just feel she is too young not to have this sleep, but over the last few days we have just brought her back down and then put her to bed 20-30 mins earlier in the evening.

Any ideas , as she is still crying despite my repeated visits to calm her. She is ok when I am in there and as soon as I walk out she starts again. Do I just knock this sleep on its head and start her nighttime routine earlier??? rice/bath/bottle???

No one want to advise???? Pleeeeease as having a bad day.

Could you bring all her naps forward a bit, so that her last nap is a bit earlier? Is she sleeping a long time for the other naps? What is her daily sleep routine like?

Pattern is this :
6:40pm - 6:40am ish with small break for dream feed at 11pm and a wakeful period at 5am for 20mins or so.

9am-10am
1am-3am

I am on tracey hogg routine ish and have bottles 7,11,3,7,11.

I did a lot of the Tacey Hogg stuff too. She's really good!! We had loads of sleeping problems with DS and I did a lot of reading, internet research to find solutions. One of the best books I read was by an American pediatrician and sleep specialist. For a baby your dd's age, he recommends a nap around 9 am, one around 1 pm and one around 3/4 pm. He also recommends that they should only stay awake for around 2 hours between sleep periods. When does dd go to bed? Could you cut her awake time before 1 pm nap?

My ds started behaving exactly the same way about a month ago, I realised that he was ready to drop his 3rd nap (he's 9 months).

I think you're right that she still needs this nap as she's a bit young to only have 2 naps. (3rd nap usually goes around 8/9 months.)

Baby's sleep - what a nightmare - they don't tell you any of this stuff at the ante-natal classes.

Got all my pms & ams wrong way round!!!

Should read 1pm -3pm.

I could be expert on Tracey hogg, & I thought we had it down to a tee with the EASY plan. She has been soooooo good with everything. It seemed to coincide with weaning.

I am not sure I understand, cut the awake time b4 1pm????

I would try and psuh the lunchtime nap forward a bit to around 12-12.30 til 2-2.30, This way she may be more tired for her afternoon nap. You may find that this last nap is still short though.

You say her last bottle is at 7pm. I would also try bringing this forward so that is is bathed, fed and actually in her cot by 7pm.

Actually meant to mention that the last bottle is now 6:40 and she falls asleep by 7:00.

She doesnt seem to be ready for bed at 12:30 as I have tried this. Especially as on Thurs she has massage grp right at her sleep time.

She does have just over 3 hrs of day naps, I have even shortened the one at 1:00 from 2hrs to 1hr 30 but it made no difference.

Hi Melsy ... DD also needs her 3rd nap, otherwise she cannot wait for bedtime ... She is on GF routine but you know, it is almost identical to your THogg one ! ! !

I agree with JulieF (you must be on GF routine ??!!) ... does she show signs of being tired ??? If not, then leave her be and if it works, carry on with the what you are doing and put her down a little earlier. Interestingly GF does say that at this age max daytime sleep should be 3 hrs and that most babies are able to drop the pm nap altogether. My DD generally needs a booster nap to see her till evening otherwise bathtime is grumpy time.

p.,s ... Do u give rice before the bottle ? Does she still take all the milk ??? I am also starting to wean as well

Hi Cords how ya doin??? Havent spoken in a while.

Your in Hong Kong arent you??

I think I will read my GF book for this. Thanks cords I was worried to drop the nap, that is good to know . I just found her too strict , but weirdly I think I do a lot of it automatically. My nana thinks I am quite structured and strict anyway!!!!

Yes she does have rice at about 5:30-6:00 but by the end of it, normally 6:15, she is grumpy and tired. I want to try and get the rice doen at 5:30 so I can then bath at 6ish and bed at 6:30. So this is the only short gap bottle, to give a longer gap till the 11pm one, so she takes more,(baby Doc recommended this).

HI Melsy,
My DS is almost exactly the same as Cords' DD. Although , he has managed without his afternoon nap when there's a lot going on!!

Definitely have a look at GF for ideas as she does talk about, eventually, giving tea at 5 then bath then bottle.

BR